Ferdinand Catlos

Ferdinand Catlos (7 October 1895-16 December 1972) was Minister of Defense of the First Slovak Republic during World War II.

Biography
Ferdinand Catlos was born on 7 October 1895 in Liptovsky Petr, Lipto County, Austria-Hungary. After the establishment of the First Slovak Republic, he was named Minister of Defense, and Catlos organized the Slovak Army that helped the Wehrmacht during their invasion of Poland at the start of World War II in 1939. Catlos also took part in the war with the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, but in 1944 he planned a military coup to overthrow the pro-Axis Powers government of Slovakia. Catlos assisted in the Slovak National Uprising in late 1944, but General Jan Golian had him arrested after having him disarm the garrison of Bratislava, and on 13 September 1944 he surrendered to the USSR. He was imprisoned until 1947, and he worked as a clerk until his death in 1972.